In the wake of the latest oil company profit report showing much higher earnings, President Bush on Friday rejected calls in Congress for a tax on oil company profits, saying the industry should reinvest its recent windfalls in finding and producing more energy. "The temptation in Washington is to tax everything," Mr. Bush said in an exchange with reporters in the White House Rose Garden. Rather than for the government to reap the benefit from oil company profits driven by the recent surge in global oil prices, he said, "The answer is for there to be strong re-investment." "These oil prices are a wakeup call," Mr. Bush said. "We're dependent on oil. We need to get off oil." ... http://www.cbsnews.com

Prime-minister-in-waiting Romano Prodi stumbled at his first parliamentary hurdle on Friday, when his center-left candidate failed to secure an absolute majority in a vote for the speaker of the Italian upper house Senate. The result on the opening day of the new parliament mean the Senate will have to hold a second and possibly even a third vote to decide who will take the prestigious position. At least one center-left senator, and probably more, refused to back their candidate in the secret vote, underlining the problems Prodi will face when he takes office — a fact leapt on by allies of center-right leader Silvio Berlusconi. "The countdown for early elections has started because as you can see, there is not majority here," said Paolo Guzzanti, a senator in Berlusconi's Forza Italia (Go Italy) party. ...http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1901553

Cholera has killed 900 people in Angola in the past 10 weeks, says aid agency Medecins Sans Frontieres, with 25 dying in a single day this week. Some 20,000 people are infected in several provinces and measures to contain the epidemic are inadequate, MSF says. Cholera is spread primarily by contact with contaminated water or food. Many Angolan homes lack running water and sewerage, after millions flocked to towns and cities amid 27 years of war. A statement from MSF urged the Angolan government and international relief organisations to do more to stem the epidemic. "Everybody has been slow to respond," said Richard Veerman, MSF's head of mission in Angola. ...http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4953542.stm

A woman accused of smothering her infant after she drunkenly fell asleep atop the 4-month-old while breastfeeding pleaded no contest Thursday to child neglect resulting in death.Lorinda Hawkins, 28, had been scheduled for trial next week. She could face up to 21 years in prison when sentenced July 11.Prosecutor John Jorgensen said he would recommend that she receive at least some prison time."We just believe she should be held accountable for the neglect," he said....http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/04/28/breastfeeding.death.ap/index.html?section=cnn_us

The EU has warned it will cut off talks on closer ties with Serbia-Montenegro if war crimes suspect Ratko Mladic is not arrested within days. "It is now high time to... locate, arrest and transfer Ratko Mladic to the Hague (tribunal) without delay," said EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn. The EU has given Belgrade until Sunday to arrest General Mladic. The former Bosnian Serb military chief is charged with genocide over the 1995 Srebrenica massacre and other crimes. Last month, the EU decided to carry on with the talks after assurances by UN Chief War Crimes Prosecutor Carla del Ponte and Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica that Gen Mladic would be arrested. For Serbia-Montenegro, this is the last chance to keep its European hopes alive, the BBC Oana Lungescu in Brussels says....http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4955376.stm

A man who spent 12 years in prison for murder before new DNA testing exonerated him last year died in a hit-and-run as he walked on the city’s South Side.The vehicle sped away after hitting Dan Young Jr., 45, Wednesday night, police said. He was pronounced dead Thursday, the Cook County medical examiner’s office said.Young had been released from prison in January 2005 after new testing on DNA evidence failed to link him and another man to the 1990 murder and sexual assault of Kathy Morgan, 39, whose body had been found in a South Side building after a fire. “He always wanted to talk about his new life and what he would do once he got his clemency money,” his attorney, Kathleen Zellner, said after learning of Young’s death. “He wanted to know if I would help him get a red brick house.”...http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12530294/from/RSS/